The Council for Gospel Legacy Churches

Our Vision

Ephesians 4:11-12 – And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…

The Council for Gospel Legacy Churches (C4GLC) was incorporated in 2012 by concerned leaders from a broad spectrum of Christian ministries in order to promote the age-integrated worship model and to address urgent issues arising within the contemporary American Church.

Our core values can be generally summarized in our tagline:

Revering the Gospel

Reforming the Church

Restoring the Family

“Fathers teach your children” has always been God’s foundational means for discipleship of the next generation yet is an all-but-lost message in the church today. The spiritual leadership of “fathers” (including single mothers, grandparents, adoptive parents, legal guardians, etc.) in their own homes simply must be restored. Pastors and Christian leaders must intentionally come alongside parents to advocate for this restoration, which would by necessity include the active equipping of fathers to carry out this all-important role. If we do not, current trends in church decline will continue. In fact, we see as imminent the potential of the Body of Christ losing its viability as an influence in American society.

While thoroughly evangelical, C4GLC is not centric to a particular denomination or geographic region, but includes Christian leaders from all across the evangelical community. Our objective is to educate and reform. Using all available means, academic (journals, books, blogs) and popular/lay venues (conferences, website, videos), we endeavor to see these biblical values restored to the church – and to the widest possible degree.

C4GLC does not define itself in relation to any other organization. Each ministry within the Christian community has its unique purposes and methods, which we honor. Please remember us in prayer as we pursue what we believe to be God’s unique purposes for C4GLC.

The tagline of the Council for Gospel Legacy Churches is listed above, but what is the meaning of these 3 articles?

Revering the Gospel:

The Gospel is the foundation of the church, and the church is the sum and substance of God’s plan for the world. Many churches are forsaking the scriptures in pursuit of “another gospel” – even though there is no other gospel. Regardless of our techniques, technologies or tolerances, if we do not get the gospel right, everything else in our churches turns out wrong! The first tenet of Gospel Legacy Churches is to restore a heightened reverence for a genuine presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the body of Christ.

Reforming the Church:

Church history demonstrates the propensity of the church to drift from its biblical foundations toward the traditions of men. Biblical reform is not introducing new thoughtto the church, rather it is a return of the church to its original form, its original doctrines and polities. The contemporary church is experiencing a mass exodus of its youth. There are many reasons for this, and we believe one main cause is that contemporary ecclesiastical models have usurped the role of parents as the primary spiritual teachers of their children. The second tenet of Gospel Legacy Churches is to encourage all churches to assume a complementarian role, coming alongside the family, by equipping fathers/parents as the primary disciple-makers of their own children.

Restoring the Home:

One principle that is clear all throughout the scriptures is Fathers, teach your children. There is absolutely no substitute for the environment of a Christian home led by godly parents who embrace their role as the spiritual shepherds of their own children. In fact, the majority of members of the western church were themselves raised in church. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 charges fathers/parents to disciple their children, and that without ceasing. While all parents may not feel qualified – because God has called them, His grace will suit them to leading a godly Christian home. The third tenet of Gospel Legacy Churches fosters a renewed awe for the Christian home as the primary conduit of the gospel from one generation the next. From a gospel-centered home, abundant ministry will flow forth to impact the world for the Gospel.

The Leadership

Eric Burd, Chairman of the Board

Eric Burd is the founding Chairman of The Council for Gospel Legacy Churches as well as Teaching Elder with Vancouver Household of Faith Community Church in Vancouver, WA. In addition to being a sought after conference speaker, Eric also serves as President and Executive Director of Household of Faith Fellowship of Churches, a nationwide association of autonomous Gospel Legacy Churches.

Graduating with Honors from Eastern Washington University in 1974, throughout college Eric was active in intercollegiate athletics and semi-professional baseball. Graduated first in his class he was immediately commissioned into the US Army. His military service included tours as an Airborne-Ranger in the 82nd Airborne Division, then as a helicopter pilot, tactical commander and operations officer for the 6th Air Cavalry Brigade. In the early ‘80s Eric’s leadership transitioned to the business sector where he earned distinctions as Manager or Salesperson of the Year more than six times, with several Fortune 500 companies.

From early childhood Eric had sensed a call to pastoral ministry. With a two-year stint at Bible College Eric never lost sight of his pastoral calling, continuing his preparation for ministry through his military and business careers. Today he has over 20 years of pastoral ministry in both denominational and non-denominational settings.

Residing near Vancouver, WA, Eric and his wife, Jerry, have been married for 40 years. They have 5 children and 7 grandchildren and have been homeschooling since 1983. With over 30 years of leadership in the military, business and Christian communities, Eric desires to be used of the Lord to engage Christians in being deliberate about getting the next generation out of the gate and off to a fast start in doing the work of the Kingdom.

J. Mark Fox, Vice-Chairman

Mark Fox is the founding Vice-Chairman of The Council for Gospel Legacy Churches. Mark has also been pastor of Antioch Community Church in Elon, NC for more than 28 years, and has taught in the School of Communications at Elon University for 25. His weekly column for the Times-News(Burlington, NC) has won 5 Amy Awards, a national honor given for “thought-provoking, skillful presentation of biblical truth, reinforced with scripture in a mainstream, non-religious publication.” You can subscribe to his blog and receive his weekly columns at his website, www.jmarkfox.com

Mark has written or co-authored seven books, which can be found at his website. He holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a M.Div. from Luther Rice Seminary.

Mark’s desire to see the church develop a vision for the world began with a trip to Haiti in 1983, and has led him to take teams to Haiti, Colombia, and several African countries. His whole family ministered together in Colombia in 2011, and Mark has taken six of his children to Africa so far to help him with pastors’ conferences, preach in the open air and minister to some of “the least of these.” Susanna, his youngest, will travel with Mark and Cindy and 5 others in the summer of 2015 to South Africa to do ministry.

Antioch Community Church has been age-integrated since 1993, and hosts bi-annual Age-Integrated Church conferences, sponsored by the church and by C4GLC.

Mark and Cindy will celebrate 33 years of marriage in June, and have seven children and four grandchildren. The family enjoys acting, running, and having fun together. Mark’s passions also include preaching, writing, speaking, and missions. He has run two marathons and numerous half-marathons. He and Cindy will run their first half-marathon together in June of 2015.

Jeff Klick, Secretary

Dr. Jeff Klick is the founding Secretary of The Council for Gospel Legacy Churches. He began his ministry in the late 1970s. From those early days, he has always had a heart for fathers, marriages, and families. Hope Family Fellowship was birthed in December 1993 from a passion to assist families not only to survive in our world, but to change it for God’s glory. Dr. Klick married his high school sweetheart, Leslie, in May of 1975. They have three adult children – Andrea, Sarah, and David and all three of the children were home educated. Jeff and Leslie have been blessed with seven granddaughters and three grandsons so far. Dr. Klick loves to learn and has a professional designation, CFP, earned a Master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry, a Doctorate in Biblical Studies, and a Ph.D. in Pastoral Ministry.

Jeff previously served for 11 years as an Administrative Pastor for a large department oriented church in Kansas City. It was during this season of his life that many of the foundational views for the Gospel Legacy church were birthed. In addition to serving as senior pastor at Hope Family Fellowship, Dr. Klick serves as an instructor with The Institute of Church Management.

Dr. Klick has multiple books published covering a wide range of topics. For more information visit his Amazon Author’s page – http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B009L3BNLW

Jeff Akin, Treasurer

Jeff Akin serves as the founding Treasurer for The Council for Gospel Legacy Churches and has ministered as a lay leader in multiple church congregations over the years. Jeff was qualified and confirmed by Antioch Community Church in Elon, NC, as the planting Pastor / Elder for The Church at Louisville. While he has served in numerous lay leader roles within local churches for many years, he was confirmed in this calling to a more visible role within the local church during the spring of 2013. Prayer, study, and the wise counsel of Christian leaders across the country have solidified this calling and culminated with the planting of this church within the Louisville area.

Many call Jeff “friend” because of his readiness to listen – attentively and unhurried. Those closest to Jeff note his caring heart for Believers and unBelievers alike, passion for urging Followers to turn beliefs and knowledge into Christ honoring actions, enthusiasm for holding men accountable and maturing them as servant-leaders of their families, and belief in age-integrated worship and lifestyles.

Jeff is also an accomplished athlete, competing in multiple full-distance Ironman Triathlons and marathons, all in spite of being a Type 1 diabetic. He often speaks publicly on these challenges and doing much with what God has afforded us individually, leading others by personal example, and remembering from whom our strength originates. Among his greatest joys are the literally hundreds of testimonies to lives transformed by his diabetic “thorn”.

The Akin family lives on a small farm in Louisville, Kentucky. Jeff and his wife Amy Jo, sons Tyler, Sam, and Eli, and daughters Ellen, Abby and Sarah Ruth, are passionate about one another, helping others in the name of Christ, living sustainably on their family homestead, and taking great care of all that God has entrusted to their care.

Churches and has ministered as a lay leader in multiple church congregations over the years. Jeff was qualified and confirmed by Antioch Community Church in Elon, NC, as the planting Pastor / Elder for The Church at Louisville. While he has served in numerous lay leader roles within local churches for many years, he was confirmed in this calling to a more visible role within the local church during the spring of 2013. Prayer, study, and the wise counsel of Christian leaders across the country have solidified this calling and culminated with the planting of this church within the Louisville area.

Brad Shedd – Board Member

Brad Shedd is an associate pastor at Harvest Assembly in Chesapeake, Virginia responsible for the Household Worship Service, a Gospel Legacy congregation begun in 2008 (www.harvestva.org/hws).

Brad completed his Master of Divinity at Regent University in 1997, receiving the award of Outstanding Divinity Student. A summary version of his thesis “Spirit and Community: The Inseparable Link” was presented at the Society of Pentecostal Studies in Toronto. He began formal ministry at Harvest Assembly in the same year, and has been responsible for a variety of areas in the church, including small groups, worship, discipleship, and assimilation, as well as regular pulpit ministry.

Brad is also an accomplished violinist, completing his Bachelor in Music Education and Violin Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati in 1990. He has performed for the 700 Club, and even played for Bob Dole and Al Gore on the same occasion! He teaches over 30 students in his private studio, and he serves as an assistant conductor with the Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia.

Brad lives in Chesapeake, Virginia with his wife Alyson and their eight children: Olivia, Sophia, Stephen, Ava, Susanna, Laura, Juliana, and Brennan. The Shedd family loves to make music together, ministering as a family at FIC conferences, nursing homes, hospitals, and local community libraries. A highlight of nearly every day is their family meal table—a wonderful meal served by Alyson, complete with candlelight, rich conversation, and a sumptuous helping of God’s Word! Brad loves to swim, (swimming over 3 miles a week!) and he loves to read, summarizing and sharing the insights he receives with others.

The Councilors

Gregg Harris

Gregg Eugene Harris was a figure in the Christian homeschooling movement from 1981 through the mid-1990s. His work helped to launch the Christian home-schooling movement in the United States, Canada, Australia and Mexico as over 180,000 families attended his seminars. His book The Christian Home School was a Christian Booksellers Association best seller in March 1988. He received his training from Centerville Bible College, the University of Dayton and Wright State University.

Gregg is the founding director of Noble Institute for Leadership Development, a non-profit educational organization under which he offers various seminars, conferences, workshops and retreats.

Gregg Harris is also one of the founders and spokesmen for The Household of Faith Church Reform Movement which assists missionary church planters in establishing or reforming local churches that support the restoration of the Christian household to its biblical place in the church and the civic community. He currently serves as a teaching elder at Gresham Household of Faith (www.ghofcc.org). His local church attempts to serve as a prototype and an on-going experiment in local church reform. He also continues to serve internationally as an evangelist and conference keynote speaker.

He is the Treasurer for The Home School Foundation which collects and distributes funds to provide help for the hurting as they continue to home school their children.

Mr. Harris is also a widowed Christian home-schooling father of seven children. Among them is his oldest son, Joshua Harris, who is the bestselling author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Dug Down Deep. His second son, Joel is a music teacher and worship leader, soon to graduate from Multnomah University in preparation for seminary training. His twin sons, Alex & Brett Harris, are co-founders of TheRebelution.com and bestselling co-authors of Do Hard ThingsandStart Here.

Gregg’s dear wife, Sono, passed away in July of 2010 after a short battle with cancer. Gregg and Sono’s three younger children Sarah, Isaac, and James live with him in Gresham, Oregon.

Steve Rouse

Steve Rouse is a full time teaching elder at Gospel Fellowship Community Church in Gladstone, Oregon. Their family, along with five other families planted the church in October, 2002. For three years, Steve was a bi-vocational church planter, working part time for the church and full time as a partner in a grocery food brokerage firm.

Steve graduated from Biola College in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education. He began studies at Western Seminary, but then withdrew, and began working full time in the perishable grocery field. That 25 year career began on an order desk and eventually led to a partnership in the company. God began to call Steve, and a group of families, to plant a church in the Portland metro area, which today is Gospel Fellowship Community Church.

Steve and his wife Lou have been married for 33 years and have raised two children. Their son, Matthew is a firefighter-paramedic. He is married to Heidi and they have two boys. Their daughter, Elizabeth, is currently serving full time with Operation Mobilization in a journalism position in the United Kingdom, with plans to return home in early September 2012. Steve and Lou also have a passion for caring for little ones in the foster care system in Oregon. Currently, the Lord has brought a little two year old boy into their home. He is their twelfth foster child, and keeps them very busy.

James McDonald

James, husband to Stacy (author of Raising Maidens of Virtue and Passionate Housewives, Desperate for God), father and grandfather of two, serves as pastor of Providence Church (www.providencecpc.org) in Morton, Illinois. A graduate of the University of Idaho (BSME), James is on a lifelong quest to complete his Master of Divinity and is currently enrolled at The North American Reformed Seminary. A man who has worn many hats, James has served as a design engineer, operations planner, global marketing director, and a publisher, but his true love is preaching God’s Word and ministering to God’s people. He enjoys strong coffee and what some consider to be odd food – from anything Cajun to shark, crawfish, sushi, elk, ostrich, the list goes on and on. Thankfully, his wife Stacy is a wonderful cook, who could make card board taste like bruschetta. The McDonald family lives on two acres of heaven in the middle of nowhere Illinois, where they spend their spare time raising a few chickens, adventuring in the woods and corn fields, and reading good books.